


Sleepover

by IndigoNight



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Fluff, Group Snuggling, M/M, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-04
Updated: 2015-02-04
Packaged: 2018-03-10 10:19:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3286724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IndigoNight/pseuds/IndigoNight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carlos isn't home and Earl can't sleep.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sleepover

**Author's Note:**

> Because these jerks have stolen my heart.

Cecil was not used to waking up in an empty bed; he hadn't been for quite some time. First Carlos, with his tendency to curl himself around Cecil's body and the way he snored like a blender attempting to purée gravel. Later, Earl had joined them. He slept quietly, nearly silent thanks to his scoutmaster training, but he was very tactile, tending to all but drape himself on top of Cecil and Carlos like a particularly well muscled blanket. 

So when Cecil woke in the middle of the night in a silent, empty room, he didn't just roll over and go back to sleep. Instead, he dragged himself out of bed, wrapped himself in his favorite purple floral robe, and went in search of his boyfriends. 

Earl was standing in their living room, his arms crossed over his chest as he stared out of the front window. The lawn outside was softly humming a lullaby, but Earl's posture was stiff and upright 

"Earl?" Cecil questioned, voice soft so as not to startle him. 

"Carlos isn't home," Earl said. He didn't look at Cecil, keeping his gaze fixed on the lawn and road outside. 

Cecil crossed the distance between them and wrapped his arms around Earl's waist, leaning up the inch necessary to rest his chin on Earl's shoulder. "Carlos is staying at the lab tonight," Cecil reminded him. He'd told them earlier that he was expecting a conference call from an expert in... something scientific. But this expert lived in Yemen, and it would be late by the time he was done, so it would be easier if he just stayed the night in the back room of the lab where he'd lived before moving in with Cecil. 

"I know," Earl confirmed. He leaned back against Cecil, some of the tension leaving his stiff body. But he still didn't look away from the window. 

Cecil sighed. He knew Earl too well to try and convince Earl to come back to bed with him. He leaned up on his toes to kiss Earl's temple. "You get the blanket," he said, unable to restrain a fond smile. "I'll get the pillows."

*****  
Carlos woke slowly, his head feeling thick and groggy. He couldn't be sure what time it was, partially because he didn't have a clock in the back room where he was sleeping, and partially because time still didn't work in Night Vale. Nevertheless, Carlos was pretty sure he hadn't been in bed for more than an hour or two. 

He frowned, blinking into the gloomy semi-darkness where he could just make out the shape of a figure sitting beside his cot. "Earl? Cariño?" he asked, recognizing the broad shoulders and curly hair even in the darkness. Earl was sitting on the floor, leaning against the side of the cot, though his posture was slumped. His hand was wrapped around Carlos' wrist, two fingers lightly resting against his pulse point. His hand was large and warm, callused in all the right ways, and it felt nice against Carlos' skin, but he wasn't responding and that had Carlos worried. 

"He's asleep." Cecil's voice floated up to him from the floor, low and sleepy. Carlos shifted just enough to peer over the edge of the cot. Cecil was laying on the floor in a nest of pillows, wrapped up in his favorite weighted blanket and Carlos couldn't help but smile at him before returning his attention to Earl. 

"His eyes are open," Carlos observed. 

Cecil couldn't actually shrug from where he was laying, but the sentiment was evident in his voice. "He does that sometimes."

Carlos was caught somewhere between feeling warmly fond about the lengths his boyfriends had gone to to be with him, worrying about their comfort, and the scientifically fascinating idea of someone being capable of literally sleeping with their eyes open. Ultimately, his worry for their comfort won out. "Is he okay like that? It doesn't look comfortable. And you shouldn't be laying on the floor like that, you'll-"

Carlos saw the white flash of Cecil's teeth in the darkness and from that he could extrapolate the fond grin on Cecil's face. "I'm fine," Cecil assured. "Besides, you're the one who didn't think ahead and buy a bed big enough for all three of us."

Carlos couldn't help but snort. "I wasn't exactly planning on going native and committing to a polyamorous relationship when I set up this place," he pointed out. 

Cecil just hummed, his blanket rustling as he settled into a more comfortable position. "Earl's fine," Cecil assured moments later, just as Carlos was opening his mouth to reiterate his concern about the scoutmaster. "He sleeps like that all the time on camping trips.”

"Is that why he comes home from camping trips too exhausted to take off his own boots without help?" Carlos challenged. 

Carlos could practically hear Cecil rolls his eyes. "He comes home from camping trips exhausted because he's just spent days surrounded by a bunch of _teenagers_." Cecil purposefully deepened his voice to emphasize the word and his horror at its implication, which forced Carlos to bury his face in his pillow to muffle the laughter that threatened to burst out of him. "Plus the whole fighting off cricketbears and spiderwolves thing," Cecil added in an after thought. That should have made Carlos lose any interest in laughing, because it was a very real concern that he and Earl had come close to fighting about several times, but at that moment, with all three of them warm and safe in the darkness of his lab it only served to make him snort harder. 

The laughter, apparently, was infectious , even though it really wasn't that funny, because soon Cecil was muffling his own laughter in his blanket. It took Carlos several minutes to calm himself, but as soon as he managed it he hypocritically shushed Cecil. "You'll wake Earl," he warned. 

"He already is awake," Cecil dismissed, making himself laugh harder. 

Carlos frowned, leaning over the edge of the bed to get a good look at Earl's face. It was exactly the same as it had been when last he looked; Earl hadn't so much as twitched during Carlos and Cecil's entire conversation. "How can you-" Carlos started. He narrowed his eyes, moving his own face even closer as he studied Earl's. After a moment of intense study Earl broke, a slow grin spreading across his face as he abruptly lurched forward and placed a mischievous kiss on the tip of Carlos' nose. 

"I don't know how you two can expect anyone to sleep when you're-" Earl's complaint was teasing, so Carlos cut him off by kissing him properly. 

"I guess this means you two don't like me sleeping at the lab anymore," Carlos observed. Earl had relinquished his grasp on Carlos' wrist, so Carlos dropped his hand to run his fingers through Cecil's hair. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't stayed over at the lab much, or really, at all since Earl had moved in with them. 

"I am totally fine with sleeping at the lab," Cecil contradicted obstinately as he scrunched his pillows around and resettled himself. 

Carlos smiled fondly, but otherwise ignored Cecil, his attention focused on Earl, who was picking at a loose thread in his pyjama pants and studiously not meeting Carlos' eyes. Carlos reached out, gently tipping Earl's chin up and raised a questioning eyebrow at him. 

"I need to know where my boys are," Earl confessed quietly. "I need to know they're safe."

Something in Carlos' chest melted, Earl's soft, earnest words doing what Cecil's mention of cricketbears and spiderwolves hadn't. Earl was undeniably the most physically capable of the three of them, and early on, first during Carlos' absence while he was in the desert other world, and later once things returned to the usual dangers and horrors that came with living in Night Vale, Earl had set himself as their protector in a way. He always made a point of ensuring, not only that they all made it home at the end of the day, but that they ate, that they bathed and kept warm, that Cecil remembered to take his medications, and that Carlos never got so absorbed in his work that he forgot what was important.

Carlos had never truly stopped to appreciate everything Earl did for them before, but now that he was he suddenly couldn't bear the thought of not being able to wrap his arms around the two men he loved. So with Earl's help, a lot of shuffling, and some gentle nudging of Cecil who was stubbornly faking sleep, they managed to build a little nest out of the cot mattress and all of the pillows and blankets available that was big enough for all three of them. Within minutes they settled into what had become their customary positions; Cecil sprawled out as much as his lithe body could possibly manage, with Carlos on the edge of the nest, curled tightly around Cecil as much to keep himself from falling off as to make the most of the physical contact, and Earl settled over both of them like a protective blanket. 

Carlos had never felt more content in his life. "I love you," he whispered as the heavy pull of sleep reached up to take hold of him. Earl hummed his agreement and Cecil, already fast asleep, mumbled something about cockroaches and the void.

**Author's Note:**

> The mentions of Cecil's medications and his use of a weighted blanket are in response to the mentions of Cecil battling Lyme disease (Episode 3 Station Management, and the Thrilling Adventure Hour cross over).


End file.
